The invention is essentially a system and method for accessing and leaving messages at physical coordinate way points. Using hand held, user supported, or car mounted wireless computing and/or communication devices, users can either leave or access messages which become available by virtue of the physical coordinate location of a wireless network subscriber""s device.
As our society continues to evolve and become more integrated with technology demand for wireless information increases constantly. Mobile phones, pagers, personal communications devices, wearable computers, handheld and car mounted GPS devices, and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are becoming commonplace. These devices provide users with customizable content and specific information while they are on the move. Of particular utility, are positioning system devices, which convey to a person their physical location at a point in time. The global positioning system (herein after GPS) allows persons to pinpoint their location at any point on the earth to within a few meters of precision. The backbone of the system is the NAVSTAR satellite constellation, comprised of 17 low orbit satellites that transmit synchronized signals, which among other things, are representative of time. Originally designated for military use in location and ordinance guidance systems, the system is now available for public and commercial use. Individuals can walk or drive around with handheld devices costing only a few hundred dollars and know exactly where they are going, record coordinate way points, view their position in the context of maps, and record routes traveled. This has become a standard feature in luxury automobiles allowing drivers and passengers to view, in real or semi-real time, their location superimposed on a road map. The devices work by reading triangulated signal information from three satellites to determine a precise location. The differences in arrival times of the time-synchronized signals allow the device to calculate its position. The problem with GPS is that a separate receiver is needed to receive the satellites"" signals and that the signal itself is very weak. Thus, any overhead cover, such as trees, tunnels, overpasses, etc. can prevent the receiver from receiving its signal.
Cellular and wireless networks are also capable of delivering this kind of position information to their subscribers. Through triangulation, signal strength measurements, angle of incidence measurements, GPS over cellular, and combinations of these techniques, cellular networks can pinpoint the location of a driver to within reasonable levels of accuracy. Especially in densely populated areas, where there are many cellular towers within close proximity to one another, it is possible to determine, within tens of meters of accuracy, the location of a user of a cellular phone.
In 1998, the Federal Communications Commission (hereinafter FCC) mandated in its rules for commercial mobile radio service (herein after CMRS) providers that the providers upgrade their networks to facilitate emergency 911 or E911 service, requiring them not only to connect the calls to the appropriate operator and transmit the caller""s phone number, but also to transmit position information on the origination point of the call. The Commission adopted E911 rules in accordance with an agreement between the wireless industry and state and local 911 officials to promote wireless technologies and transmissions that provide important information to enable the 911 Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to promptly locate the 911 caller. The wireless E911 service was established to ensure that wireless phones automatically transmit the same vital data about a 911 caller""s location as wireline phones. CMRS providers were expected to achieve transmission of the enhanced location information in two phases, with Phase I to begin Apr. 1, 1998. Accordingly, the E911 rules now provide that, for Phase I, carriers transmit a caller""s Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and the location of the cell site or base station receiving a 911 call to the designated 911 PSAP beginning Apr. 1, 1998. These capabilities allow the PSAP attendant to call back if the 911 call is disconnected and to provide general location information to assist in the prompt dispatch of emergency personnel.
As for Phase II, carriers are to transmit more accurate Automatic Location Information (ALI) of a caller beginning Oct. 1, 2001, according to phased-in timetables for handset-based and network-based technologies. The specific requirements for Phase II state that covered carriers provide to the designated PSAP the location of a 911 call by longitude and latitude within a radius of no more than 125 meters in 67 percent of all cases, using Root Mean Square (RMS) methodology. The two prerequisites in the current rules for a carrier""s obligation to implement either Phase I or Phase II are that: (1) the carrier has received a request for such service from a PSAP that has the capabilities of receiving and using the data, and (2) a mechanism for recovering the costs of the service is in place. The solution for the CMRS providers to Phase II can come from either the network or the handset; however, if the carriers choose the handset-based solution for Phase II deployment, they are required to begin selling and activating Phase II-compliant handsets no later than Mar. 1, 2001, without regard to the PSAP-related prerequisites. In November of 1999, the FCC amended its cost recovery rule to modify the requirement that a mechanism for cost recovery be in place before a carrier is obligated to provide E911 services. The FCC affirmed the requirement that a formal mechanism be in place for PSAP cost recovery, but eliminated as a barrier to E911 implementation, any prerequisite that carrier""s E911 costs be covered by a mechanism.
Successful implementation of E911 will establish 911 as a universal number so that a user of a wireless phone could simply dial 911 regardless of whether they are in their home network or not. This will require the wireless provider to transmit simultaneous to the call, position information on the user to the 911 operator so that emergency personal can be dispatched to the location of the caller. Upgrading their networks to provide this service is a significant cost to both the wireless provider as well as the local government who employs the 911 operators and maintains the call receiving hardware. This has been a point of contention by the wireless service providers. They have been reluctant to adhere to mandates to provide E911 service without a cost recovery mechanism in place due to the fact that that providing this service costs them additional money, reducing their profit margin and does not generate any additional revenue. It would be desirable for the wireless providers to have a mechanism for generating a return on investment in the infrastructure required to provide E911 service. Such a mechanism would make compliance with the FCC Phase II mandate more attractive to CMRS providers and may provide a way for them to increase their profitability by expanding their commercial services to include location specific content.
Currently, there are three variants of technologies for determining the location of a network activated mobile phone. Broadly, these fall into the categories of network-implemented, handset-implemented, or hybrid. Network-based answers are usually based on a combination of systems called time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), and an amplitude difference based on angle of arrival (AD-AOA). Under TDOA, the time difference between a signal from a mobile phone arriving at three different base stations are measured, giving a calculation of the mobile""s location. AD-AOA calculates the angle of a signal arriving at two base stations, again yielding a location, and the combination of these two technologies yields accuracy in the region of 100 meters. All methods are currently in the experimental stage, thus, a uniform standard which will operate across all proprietary CMRS networks has yet to be established.
As for handset-implemented solutions, GPS remains a viable solution and the most probable in the short term. This technology is well established and with the recent removal of the signal degradation, accuracy on the order of tens of meters can be achieved with a small GPS receiver. Handset-implemented solutions relying on GPS devices will require additional chips and software added to handsets so they can track the satellites upon which the GPS system relies. To improve accuracy and in-building coverage, the system uses a secondary signal from the network.
A third, hybrid system uses observed time difference or OTD, and is implemented both in the handset and in a network server based on uploaded measurements from handsets of the time of arrival of signals from at least three different base stations.
There has been recent discussion of potential cost recovery mechanisms that could extract commercial value from the expenditure associated with providing Phase II E911 service. These mechanisms are based on providing location specific marketing information to wireless subscribers to offset costs. An article in Internet Week, Sep. 18, 2000, by Teri Robinson, entitled, xe2x80x9cWireless Applicationsxe2x80x94Location is Everythingxe2x80x94Wireless location services may prove that the first law of real estate is also true for the Net,xe2x80x9d discusses some of these. The article states, xe2x80x9cAs location services evolve, it""s conceivable that a user travelling down the New Jersey Turnpike would be hit with offers from fast food restaurants, outlets or anything else along his route that might want to lure him toward, for example, the offer of a 99 cent Big Mac two exits away . . . . Location services also offer retailers an opportunity to dovetail e-commerce and brick-and-mortar strategies, using wireless technology to drive customers into physical stores. Barnes and Noble.com, for example supports Palm VII""s auto-find feature, which helps users find the location of the three nearest Barnes and Noble stores. The response delivers information about store hours, telephone numbers, and locations, as well as special events such as book readings and signings.xe2x80x9d The article also concedes that there are other existing location solutions, however, they are limited in their capability and fail to fully solve the problem. xe2x80x9cAmong the most tried and true location methods is the one that has travelers voluntarily enter the zip codes of their locations. It doesn""t require any special equipment or investment, and it certainly allays privacy issues. However, the problem with this approach is it""s dependent on the user to provide vendors with the needed information on location. Even when the user is reliable, he may not be able to provide that information.
Another exemplary discussion of the cost recovery solutions is provided in Technology Review, September, 2000, authored by John Adam, entitled xe2x80x9cInternet Every-where.xe2x80x9d The article admits that the value of wireless handhelds will be greatly increased when the network can tell where they are. As an example, the article states xe2x80x9c . . . the screen of a wireless device could continuously change as you walk down a street, tempting you with various offers. Your spouse""s screen might differ from yours, even through you are near the same bookstore, restaurant or shopping center. When you pass a certain store, your To Do list stored on a network reminds you to pick up an item that has been spotted in the store""s virtual database . . . . Or maybe a local store wants to drum up business one Thursday morning. It offers a discount for the next two hours to all receptive people within a 1-mile radius. Its also conceivable to blend personal buddy lists with geographic location, so any networked friends passing within five blocks will know you are at the coffee shop, amenable to old fashioned face-to-face conversation.xe2x80x9d The article, however, is directed towards possible future capabilities and features of commercial services that could be provided to network subscribers that utilize the same infrastructure facilitating Phase II E911, rather then disclosing any practical functional embodiments to perform these services. The article also fails to mention other possible uses of location specific content.
Thus, there exists a clear need for a cost recovery mechanism for CMRS providers for upgrading their wireless networks to support E911 service as the costs associated with implementation are significant. Such a mechanism will speed up compliance with the FCC rules and help to ensure effective E911 service for wireless customers.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a cost recovery mechanism for CMRS providers which is devoid of the above problems.
It is another object of this invention to provide a cost recover mechanism for CMRS provides to recover at least some of the costs associated with meeting FCC requirements with regard to providing Phase II E911 service.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a communication system for accessing information over a wireless network at specific latitudinal and longitudinal coordinate locations or way points.
Another object of this invention is to provide a system for automatically or manually retrieving posted information at coordinate way points.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a system for leaving messages at specific coordinate way points or centered about specific coordinate way points.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a system for receiving commercial information while traveling, wherein said information becomes available when a person enters an area centered about a point and said commercial information is related to business entities located within or near said area.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a system for leaving personalized messages for other persons at specific coordinate way points, wherein said messages are accessible by other persons when the other persons are near the coordinate way point.
Still yet another object of this invention is to provide a system for pushing or pulling dynamic information in a commercial mobile radio service network said information being germane to a specific coordinate location of a network subscriber device.
A further object of this invention is to provide a system for retrieving information about a piece of equipment or a hardware installation site when a technician or inspector nears the physical location of the site.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a system for notifying other persons of a person""s location within a designated radius.
Still yet a further object of this invention is to provide a system for remotely posting messages to a specific coordinate location or asset location.
These and additional objects of this invention are accomplished generally by a system and method for leaving and retrieving messages at coordinate way points.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the present invention provides a system and method for accessing and retrieving messages at specific coordinate way points or areas centered about specific coordinate way points. The present invention will allow network subscribers to retrieve commercial, personal, and informational messages at specific locations and will also allow them to leave personalized messages at specific locations using a subscriber device. Additionally, the present invention will provide a cost recovery mechanism for CMRS providers to recover costs associated with upgrading their networks to facilitate E911 Phase II coordinate capabilities by providing these services together with E911 service to their subscribers. For the purposes of this disclosure and claims the term subscriber device will include mobile phone devices, car-based communication devices, personal communication devices, communication enabled wearable computers, personal digital assistants, portable computers, internet appliances, or other mobile communication and computing devices which are operable to communicate with a commercial wireless network. By wearable computer is meant a computer such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,824, assigned to Xybernaut Corporation and successfully commercialized under the name Mobile Assistant, in addition to any other body-worn or user-supported computing device which is capable of wireless communication.
Using triangulation or one or more other proposed techniques, the network will be able to pinpoint a relative location of the user of the device, check the user""s preferences and selectively allow the user to view any applicable messages. For the purposes of this disclosure and the claims, triangulation will be taken to mean an algorithmic approach to calculating a location that three or more signals either coming from or going to separate locations and uses the difference in their arrival times, the difference in their relative strengths, or the differences in the angle of arrival, to derive a location. When the user enters an area, centered about a latitudinal and longitudinal coordinate point, he will automatically receive a message if his preferences permit receiving the particular type of message that is available. Additionally, he will be able to record a specific location and to attach a message, file, or other information to that location so that it may be available to himself and others. The device will in a preferred embodiment possess at least one user interface for leaving and retrieving messages, and optionally one interface for each. This interface will include a screen on the device, software, voice activated controls, speech output, push buttons, virtual keyboard, and combinations thereof. Alternatively or in combination with, a personal computer may be utilized to upload messages to a specific location.
In one permutation of the preferred embodiment, users will carry hand held devices which communicate over the network. The devices can be mobile phones, communication enabled PDAs, personal communications devices, hand held internet appliances, or other portable computing devices capable of communicating over a CMRS network. They will use these devices to interact with the network and to access and record messages at specific physical coordinate locations. The storage, display and audio capabilities of these devices will be used to store, download, upload and replay the messages in a manner analogous to the way current hand-held communication devices are used to make calls and to upload and download information. The device will possess a unique identification number, such as the phone number, which identifies it to the CMRS network.
In another permutation of the preferred embodiment of the invention, a subscriber has a device in or attached to his vehicle which functions like a wireless phone and is activated in a wireless network such as the Sprint(copyright) PCS network. The subscriber device will perform as a standard mobile phone, using CDMA, Wide Band CDMA, TDMA, FDMA or other known or previously undeveloped communication protocols for communicating within the wireless network. The device will have an integral or attached display screen which could be built into the dash board of the car. The screen will be used to display the content of graphical messages and optionally to serve as an interface with the network. Like existing communication devices, the device will have a unique code, such as the phone number of the phone, which identifies and distinguishes it from other devices within the network.
In every embodiment, a unique code of the subscriber device will allow the network to identify him uniquely. Either the user""s subscriber device or the network will store preferences with respect to different types of messages that may be received. Potential message types can include personal messages, historical messages (e.g. plaque""s along the roadside which convey historical information about the immediate area), informational messages (e.g. Traffic messages, accident information, alternate route information, etc.), commercial messages (e.g. Advertisements for local businesses which are near the location of the user), dynamic messages, and directional messages.
As to personal messages, subscriber""s of the network may be given the option of leaving a specific message at a particular coordinate location. This can be facilitated by using the subscriber""s device. He merely pushes a button at a specific location causing the device to save the physical location. Then he can push a xe2x80x9crecord messagexe2x80x9d button which allows him to speak a message into his device. This message could be directions to the subscriber""s house from the specific location or any other personal message. The message is then uploaded to the network where it will become available to other network subscribers. It should be noted that not only text and voice messages can be left on the system, but also video messages, including video stills and motion video, attachments, and combinations of video and audio can also be left. The person creating the message can designate whether the message is available to all subscribers, only the persons stored in the memory of the subscriber""s device, a subset of the persons stored in memory, or even a single person. The person can also designate the time period for the message to be available, in the absence of a default time period, so that messages are not left forever, clogging up the storage space on the network and overwhelming the user devices. This will enable subscribers to leave xe2x80x9cvirtual post-it notesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cvirtual graffitixe2x80x9d nearly anywhere. The message could even be a reminder to left by a person for himself, or a video or audio clip.
In an additional embodiment, the system can be used to facilitate dynamic, near real-time messages. For example, when a person enters the domain of an asset such as a bus or train stop, either automatically, or at the initiation of the user, his device receives a message informing him of the arrival time of the next bus or train. The message could state xe2x80x9cbus 12B will arrive in approximately 10 minutes.xe2x80x9d This information would allow the recipient to plan his time, if he wanted to go to a nearby store to purchase something or if he would be better off to stay and wait for the bus. This will require the bus to also be equipped with a device so that its position can be monitored as well. This information could be automatically pushed to the user""s device or it could be pulled by him in response to an issued command.
In another related embodiment, the system and method of the present invention can be used to create affinity groups comprised of other network subscribers. The device itself can be used as a sort of pager to alert others of their presence within a physical location threshold within the entire area of the CMRS provider network. For instance, if a user 1 has user 2 listed in his affinity group, and user 2 comes into a geographical area within a pre-specified radius of the location of user 1, then a message can automatically be received on the device of user 1 announcing the presence of user 2. Conversely, a message could appear on user 2""s device alerting him of his close proximity to user 1. This affinity group feature will also allow creators, and optionally members, of a group to leave a single message to all members of a group that may or may not be tied to a specific coordinate location. For instance, when a team of employees arrive in a city for an event, such as sales meeting or a trade show, the members will each be able access a general message left for all of them when they arrive at or nearby the airport. This information could be information on their accommodations or a schedule of the upcoming events. The system may also optionally allow group members to send near real-time messages to other group members at once, simply by designating the group, without regard to any specific coordinate location. This may be particularly beneficial to business customers. Each customer account, such as XYZ company, could administrate its own affinity groups and control group messages sent out. Also, it would be useful for the CMRS provider to have a have world wide web (WWW) interface to allow persons to enter a city, an address, or a location such as an airport, and to be able to tag a message to that location without having to actually drive through that location for the purpose of attaching a message to that location. For example, a persons accesses the WWW interface and chooses to leave a message for an individual or for an affinity group at Los Angeles Airport, or at any point in the city of Denver. When the individual or group members reach the location, the message will appear on their device.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention will allow a maintenance or inspection person to go to the sight of a fixed asset such as a piece of equipment, transformer station, cellular tower, etc., and once he arrives at the sight of the asset to receive the information about the asset. Such information could include repair records, date of installation, technical information such as schematics, steps for performing repair or inspections on the asset, etc. The technician will carry or wear an interface device with integral display that will allow him to view and reference the transmitted information about the specific piece of equipment or asset. This will allow him to have access to information about a device without having to carry it with him. Additionally, as he leaves the site to go to another he can simply erase the dynamic memory in his device so that he has room to receive information about the next device. Any work performed or notes made by the technician may be added to a historical log and uploaded to the system so that they will be available for future reference. In this manner, if a different technician returns to the site at a later date, he will have a full history of the device. For example, if the previous technician made a note that a specific part was suffering wear and may need replaced at the next inspection/servicing, the new technician would be alerted to look for that rather then starting fresh each time he returns. This will increase efficiency and reduce downtime due to equipment breakdown.
In yet an additional embodiment, the present invention can be used to facilitate orienteering-type gaming and even military applications. For instance, specific instructions or messages could be left for persons, when they get to a certain area centered about a specific latitudinal and longitudinal coordinate location. The person leaving the message can dictate whether a code is required to access the message or if a list of persons, characterized by the unique number of their device, can access the message. If the former, a message will appear on the device of the person entering the area, requesting him to enter his access code to actually receive the message. In military applications, the system of the present invention could be used to leave limited access messages for troops at specific coordinate locations or issue warnings if someone is going off course.